1987: From Italo disco to Joburg pop, the stories behind the songs

British band Curiosity Killed the Cat brought a cooler mixture of funk, soul and polished pop to the year. Their debut album, Keep Your Distance, became a major success after Down to Earth broke through. The group had already attracted an extraordinary supporter: pop-art legend Andy Warhol, who appeared in the video for their earlier single Misfit.

Away from the radio, cinemas were packed for Dirty Dancing, Fatal Attraction, Lethal Weapon, RoboCop and The Lost Boys, while Three Men and a Baby became the year’s biggest film at the American box office. Home entertainment was also changing rapidly as VHS rentals became a weekend ritual, Nintendo brought video gaming into more living rooms, and fashion embraced shoulder pads, oversized jackets, acid-wash denim and gloriously big hair.

Mel and Kim Appleby were also impossible to ignore. Their infectious Respectable was written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman, but its attitude belonged to the sisters. The lyrics were partly inspired by their refusal to be embarrassed when old glamour photographs of Mel surfaced in the tabloids. Even the laughter heard on the recording came from spontaneous studio conversation.

Before C’est la Vie made Robbie Nevil a familiar name, he had been building a career behind the scenes. The guitarist and songwriter had already written for performers including The Pointer Sisters, El DeBarge, Alison Moyet and Earth, Wind & Fire. He later moved back behind the curtain, writing and producing music connected to High School Musical and Hannah Montana.

South Africa supplied discoveries of its own. Johannesburg band Cinema’s glossy My Kinda Girl helped turn the group into a major local attraction. Cinema would eventually release seven albums and achieve an impressive succession of radio hits. Bright Blue’s Weeping, meanwhile, carried a far more serious message by weaving the melody of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika into an anti-apartheid song.

The year also gave us Wet Wet Wet’s hopeful debut hit Wishing I Was Lucky, Johnny Hates Jazz’s elegant Shattered Dreams and the Bee Gees’ remarkable comeback with You Win Again.

Did You Know?

Living in a Box may be one of pop’s great naming coincidences: Living in a Box was a song called Living in a Box, recorded by a band that decided to call itself Living in a Box – and it appeared on an album also titled Living in a Box.

Yes, 1987 belonged to some enormous stars – but its less familiar stories may be even more rewarding to rediscover.